Studio Senn

Baby name consultation: Baby no. 4/girl no. 2 for Studio Senn!

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Happy 105th (!) anniversary of the Miracle of Sun at Fatima! Today’s consultation by Theresa Zoe Williams is for a repeat client — Kortnee from Studio Senn! I had the honor of doing a consultation for her last baby a few years ago and posting a birth announcement; I’m so excited to see that she’s expecting another girl, and to see what name ideas Theresa has for her! Enjoy!

Mama Kortnee writes in asking for help naming her fourth child, second girl. Big siblings are:

Fulton Douglas
Becket Raymond
Perrin Fae

She writes,

“Middle names are all family names. First names are Saints (or in the case of Perrin,
a nickname because she was going to be named Peregrine) but all happen to be surnames of
sort or another.”

Kortnee continues,

“For girl names I am drawn to Irish/Scottish punchy names that tend to lean more gender neutral. But my husband says he likes more feminine names.”

Names they like that don’t feel like the one include Rory (for St. Gregory), Greer (for St. Gregory), Quinn (for Ven. Edel Quinn), Reese (for any of the Sts. Teresa), Emmerich (for Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich), and Lydia.

Middle names they are considering include: Ruth, Emile (pronounced em-eel), Catherine, Kate,
and Amelia.

Mama Kortnee presented a unique challenge of already thinking of all the names I would have suggested, so I had to dig a lot deeper.

Some thoughts on names they like but aren’t “the one”.

Rory- I love this punchy little name especially with their other children. I would have thought this would have been feminine enough with the -y ending for Kortnee’s husband but I get it. I love that they would tie this name to St. Gregory.

Greer- Another really fun and expected name! What I love about this one is that it’s unexpected but not weird. Totally right in their wheelhouse.

Quinn- This was the first name that popped to mind before I read they’d already thought of it. Ah, I really love this one for you guys! I don’t think Quinn (with similar sounding last name) is too much, either. It has a nice rhythm.

Reese- I feel like sisters Reese and Perrin are just meant to be. I really love this name and that it gives this child a female patron, too.

Emmerich- Another right in their wheelhouse that I would’ve suggested. I don’t like this one quite as much as the others but I do love that it has nickname potential.

Lydia- One of my favorite names! But I agree that it doesn’t quite fit Kortnee’s style or that of the other children.

On to new suggestions!

(1) Clairvaux

Not a surname and not Irish (but French) this came to mind because it’s unexpected and gender neutral (being a place name) but it feels feminine and has the nickname Claire. I think this one might be right in the sweet spot between Kortnee and her husband. Patron would be St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It’s spunky and a little bit punchy but all over sweet.

(2) Reagan

This surname means “little king” and definitely leans girl while maintaining neutrality. It’s at #126 for girls right now. While not the name of a saint, it could be an honor name for Jesus with its meaning. It’s Irish, too! I like this with sister Perrin and the brothers.

(3) Peyton

This name sits at #99 for girls right now even though it’s gender neutral, so it feels more feminine while not being frilly. It’s also an English surname born by Ven. Patrick Peyton, so it even has a patron directly attached! I really love this one for them. My only hang up was that would be two girls with P- names. I don’t think this should bother them, though.

(4) Blaise

I thought, if Blake and Blair can be girls or boys, why not Blaise? It doesn’t rank at all for girls and is at #997 for boys, so it’s not common but it’s also not weird. St. Blaise would be the patron. I just thought, what a zippy, fun name for a girl!

(5) Brenna

This would be a feminine form of St. Brendan. Although not a surname, it’s punchy and Irish and I love it with their other kids. There are various meanings for this name depending on where you take its origin from, but since they’d use it as a feminine form of Brendan, it means “king or prince”. Brenna is out of the top 1000, which I think is perfect for them. Brenna gives me the same punchy, pixie-like, softly feminine feel as Perrin does, and she sounds great with all the kids.

(6) Finley

This name means “white warrior” and is at #211 for girls and #265 for boys, meaning it’s truly gender neutral. There is no saint Finley, but there are tons of Fin- saints that this name could take patronage from. All of those saints happen to be Scottish, too. Finley is also in the same wheelhouse as surname names, although not one itself. Fulton, Becket, Perrin, and Finley sound so sharp to me.

(7) Kiara

The most feminine name on the list, this is actually the name of an Irish saint! It has two possible roots that can make its meaning either “black” (from Ciara) or “clear, bright” (from Chiara). There are lots of possible patrons here including St. Kiara (the Irish saint), St. Clare of Assisi, or St. Ciar (an Irish abbott). I like that this name is feminine but punchy –– hopefully that bridges the gap between Kortnee and her husband better. I like siblings Fulton, Beckett, Perrin, and Kiara. Bonus, I think this name works well with almost all of the middle names they’re considering.

These are my thoughts! What do you think?

I’m not currently doing consultations, but Theresa Zoe Williams is available to help you! Email her at TheresaZoeWrites@gmail.com to set up your own consultation! (Payment methods remain the same.)

For help with Marian names, my book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon (not affiliate links). It’s perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

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Baby name consultation: Studio Senn’s little lady!

sanctanomina Baby name consultant , , ,

I’m so excited to post a consultation for one of my favorite artists: Kortnee at Studio Senn (web site and Instagram)!! I’ve posted about her and her beautiful things before, so much so that she has her own tag here on the blog! I was so excited when she emailed me for help with naming her baby girl, little sister to two big brothers!

Kortnee writes,

“I am so excited to ask your expertise in suggestions for naming this new baby! We recently found out the baby we are expecting in early January is a girl! We had a few boy names picked out but no girl names that we are in love with or feel fit with our current naming style.

Current kiddos:

Fulton Douglas: Named after Ven. Fulton Sheen (we have a great love for this man) and my FIL’s first name.

Becket Raymond: Named after Saint Thomas Becket (we thought he was a great intercessor for religious freedom in this day and age) and both my Dad and Grandpa have Raymond as their middle name.”

I looooove their style of naming!!

“I am pretty picky about girl names unfortunately and am feeling really discouraged in the naming department. I think would be fun to continue our current trend of Surnames but I’m not strict about it. I am not a huge fan of places as names (like Sienna, Avila, etc) or most well known Saint names/more common names (Theresa, Mary, Catherine, etc). However, I really want to have a Saint name or Saint surname or a derivative of a Saint for the first name (or blessed). I like the idea of her having a nickname but didn’t really give any to our boys.

We would like the middle name to be Fae. My grandma’s middle name is Mae, my mom’s is Kae and mine is Rae so I thought it would be fun to continue the odd tradition. And I’ve always thought Fa(y)e was a pretty name. We also need her name to work with our last name (Senn), so with single syllable middle and last names I don’t think she can have a single syllable first name.

Names I currently like for a girl:
Lucia (Lucy)
Connelly (after Bl. Cornelia Connelly)
Peregrine (nn Peren)
Greer (looove this one but husband not the biggest fan (yet!) and not sure it goes well with Fae Senn)
Scarlett (I’ve read your connection to the Precious Blood but wondering if there is any Saintly connection (so she can have a feast/name day)?)

Names my Husband likes (although he usually isn’t the one to suggest names):
Lydia
Also, Peregrine!

Names I like but can’t imagine naming our child or has already been used by someone close to us:
Vivian
Josephine
Edith (Edie)
Juniper (June)
Cora
Perpetua (Poppy or Pippa)

Names I like but don’t go well with Fae Senn (or too many F’s for me)
Felicity
Fiona
Wren
Quinn

Looking forward to hearing all of your suggestions!“

This was so much fun to work on! Even though Kortnee said it’s not strictly necessary to continue the surname theme, I agree with her that it would be so cool to continue it, so I focused almost exclusively on finding ideas that fit the surname style.

I love that Fae will be this baby girl’s middle name! What a cool connection to Kortnee’s grandmother, mother, and herself!

Of the names on the list of those Kortnee and her husband like for a girl:

— I love Lucia and Lucy! So sweet!
— I’d never heard of Ven. Cornelia Connelly — what a great connection! Connelly’s a cool name! (And she even has her own Tiny Saint!)
— Peregrine nn Peren was such a surprise to me! I love the meaning of Peregrine, and Peren is a fun nickname! It reminds me of Perrin, which is an old nickname for Pierre (Peter) — that would also be an interesting name to consider.
— Greer is one of my favorites as well! I love it! Greer Fae Senn is a lot of single syllables, but that doesn’t have to be a deal breaker — there are loads of famous people with one syllable first and last names, and they’re fine! Examples include Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and others. The one-syllable middle name makes it extra, but few people know others’ middle names as they go through life, so most of the time she’d been Greer Senn or Greer F. Senn, neither of which are bad at all.
— Scarlett is a great name, and there is a feast of the Most Precious Blood: July 1 — I wonder if that makes the name feel more doable?
— Felicity, Fiona, Wren, and Quinn were great additions to the list of names I wanted to include as inspiration in my research. I actually had a thought about Quinn — I’ve seen it used as a nickname for Aquinas, maybe Kortnee would like to include Aquinas on their list of possibilities?

As for her hubby’s list, I’m interested that Kortnee’s Lucia/Lucy and hubby’s Lydia are not that far off from each other, and also that they both like Peregrine! I’m tempted to say that must be the name! It’s such a big deal when both parents like the same name! However, I’m happy to continue with new ideas! 😀

I looked up Kortnee’s boys’ names and the names she and her hubby like, including the ones they can’t use, in the Baby Name Wizard book as it lists, for each entry, boy and girl names that are similar in terms of style/feel/popularity. I also looked through the list of English martyrs, as I’ve often found them to be a good source of saintly surnames. And I combed through my own mental files and some particular consultations I’ve done in the past that I thought might provide some good ideas, including:

https://sanctanomina.net/2017/06/19/baby-name-consultation-baby-no-9-needs-a-name-thats-not-generally-popular-nor-catholic-popular-and-a-few-other-rules/

https://sanctanomina.net/2016/08/09/celebrity-guest-lindsay-from-my-child-i-love-you/

Based on all that, these are my ideas for this baby girl:

(1) Talbot
I love the story of Ven. Matt Talbot, and Lindsay from My Child I Love You (the second link above) used his last name in one of her daughter’s name, but the real reason I was convinced to put it on the list is because Kortnee said she might like to use a nickname and Talbot nicknames so easily to the sweet Tally/Tali.

(2) Cabrini
I’ve suggested Cabrini to a few parents in the past — I think it’s such a fun name to say and Mother Cabrini is a great saint.

(3) Vianney
Both of the families I linked to above have daughters named Vianney — it’s a gorgeous name that has a very feminine feel, even though it’s the last name of a male saint.

(4) Goretti
Goretti might be the perfect idea for this family, since I think that Greer can be used as a nickname for it, not only because of the letters involved, but also because both Goretti and Greer are derived from Gregory! I love St. Maria Goretti.

(5) Gibson
One of the English martyrs is Bl. William Gibson, and Gibson always makes me think of the Gibson Girl, which I think adds a really nice touch of femininity to the name.

(6) Holland
I know a little girl named Holland, which I love because it’s kind of like Holly but with a twist — I love when names feel familiar and unexpected at the same time. Holly can be a nickname, which is perfect for the Christmas season! Also, one of the English martys is Bl. Thomas Holland, whose feast is Dec. 22 — right near Kortnee’s due date.

(7) Rowan
Fulton, Connelly, Greer, Fiona, and Quinn all have Irish connections, so when I saw Rowan pop up in my research as similar in style to Fiona and Quinn, I thought it might be perfect! Though it has decent usage as a first name, it’s also a surname. I love the nickname Ro! And St. Rowan (or Ruadhán) is one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, and their feast day is January 6 — right near Kortnee’s due date!

(8) Casey or Carey
Bl. Solanus Casey is one of my favorites, and I love the name Casey! Then I found Bl. John Carey in the list of English martyrs, and I thought Carey was great too.

(9) Ruby
Ruby was inspired both by its similarity to Scarlett color-wise, and I also did a spotlight on Ruby a while ago in which I connected it to the Precious Blood, as well as Jesus’ Passion and Death, and also the tongues of fire the Holy Spirit took the form of when He descended on the apostles, which gives feast days of July 1 (as noted above for Scarlett), Holy Thursday or Good Friday, and Pentecost. Ruby is so sweet! It could also work great as a nickname for something, though I haven’t come up with anything brilliant for Kortnee (I gave a few ideas in that Ruby spotlight, but nothing surnamey. I keep thinking Robertson or Robinson, but those don’t feel right!)

(10) Molly
My last idea isn’t a surname, but Molly is a style match for Lucy and Ruby, and I’ve seen it used at least once in honor of St. Gianna because of its similarity to her last name, Molla. So maybe it could be perfect?

And those are all my ideas! What do all you think? What name(s) would you suggest for the little sister of Fulton and Becket?

My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!

Birth announcement: Marigold Thérèse!

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Our dear reader Grace, for whom I posted a prayer-intention post a month ago as she was enduring a difficult end to her pregnancy, has had her fifth baby — a beautiful little girl with the gorgeous name … Marigold Thérèse!

Grace writes,

“Our baby girl Marigold Thérèse was born on November 27. Baby turned head down just in time for my induction and we were able to have a successful VBAC and entirely avoid anesthesia, which was my big concern with having another c-section (I had a serious reaction to the anesthesia with my last c-section). Thank you to all your readers who prayed for us during the week before her birth! We had so many people praying for us over the 9 weeks that I was on bedrest and also right before her birth, and those prayers were deeply felt and appreciated!

Now onto her naming story! When you posted my make-believe consultation, long before I was pregnant, I mentioned that our last baby (now 4 1/2 years old) was to be named Iris Maria Thérèse had he been a girl, and that I thought we’d keep that name if we ever did have another girl. (I also mentioned that I was very set on the name Xavier for a middle name if we had another boy, and the doctor who ended up delivering Marigold was named Javier, which I think is a cool connection.)

Shortly before I found out I was pregnant last March, I had started to have second thoughts about the name Iris. I still really love it, but I don’t care for the initial “I” with our surname, and ultimately felt like, as much as I love the name, it just wasn’t the right choice for us. I also started to think a lot about the name Marigold during that time. It has been one of my two favorite Marian names for years (the other is Maria), and with the floral element and a more English feel than Maria, I started to think it would be a great replacement for Iris. Soon after this, I learned I was pregnant, a miracle after several years of trying, so much prayer (so many St. Thérèse and St. Gerard and St. Andrew Christmas novenas and Our Lady’s Impossible novenas…), and some help from a wonderful Catholic NaPro physician.

I was pretty certain that I had been “led” to the name Marigold during that time, and although my husband was at first a little hesitant to change direction from Iris, he quickly came on board. The middle name would, of course, be Thérèse. St. Thérèse has been a companion and friend to me for years and I really wanted to honor her by using her name.

In May, I had some genetic testing done for the pregnancy (because I’m old😬), which allowed us to find out the sex of the baby. During the time we were awaiting those results, the beloved grandmother of one of my dear friends died. Her name was Marilynn, and as my friend shared stories about her grandmother in the days and weeks that followed her death, I felt a strong sense of connection to her, though I had never met her, and I started to feel even more strongly that the name Marigold was the right choice for our baby (if it was a girl). I felt that I wanted to honor my friend’s grandmother through her name, as well, because I had been so moved by the stories my friend had been sharing. When we got the results of the genetic testing in June and learned that we were expecting a healthy baby girl, I let my friend know that we had chosen the name Marigold and that what she had shared about her grandmother in the previous weeks had confirmed the choice. She told me then that her grandmother had the habit of saving marigold seeds every fall to plant in the spring and that this was a special memory shared by her grandchildren. I’d had no idea there was a connection to marigold flowers, only the similarity of the name Marilynn to Marigold. This was so moving to me and really confirmed that this name was in some way “meant” for this baby.

The final two connections for the name Marigold came from you, Kate, in discussing how marigold flowers can represent the crown of Our Lady (we have selected the Queenship of Mary to be Marigold’s feast day — with a Marian name, there are many choices and the marigold flower/crown connection seemed a good one), as well as the fact that this year was the centennial of Our Lady of Fatima, who is portrayed wearing a golden crown. It’s very exciting to have a Marian-named baby during the centennial year for one of her major titles!

I will also add that I really wanted to do a double middle name for this baby because it seems to be fairly popular in the U.K. (according to the Baby Names of Britain site), and I’m a pretty obsessive Anglophile. One of your readers suggested the name Rosamund as an alternative to one of my old favorites, Rosalind, in a comment on my consultation. Rosamund means “rose of the world” and quickly surpassed Rosalind on my list of favorites. My husband and I went back and forth on adding the second middle name literally up to the evening I was filling out the birth certificate information in the hospital. Ultimately we decided against it, mainly because for it to flow well, it seemed Rosamund would have to come before Thérèse, and I really wanted to honor St. Thérèse in the #1 middle name spot. I’m glad now that we didn’t give her too big a mouthful of a name because she’s such a tiny little thing, though I’ll admit to having the tiniest bit of regret about not getting to do a double middle name on what I expect is my last baby to name.

I am so excited that this lovely little lady has joined our family, and also that we were able to use a name that is both meaningful and also matches our daughter Fiona’s name well in terms of “sparkle”. I feel that the addition of Marigold to our set balances it and also helps solidify the theme of their names (at least in my view).”

I love this explanation so much! I just love it when there are layers of meaning, and you know how I am about Marian names!! All the heart eyes!! Marigold Thérèse is such a perfect combination for this family!

And thank you all for your prayers for Grace! I’m so glad we can ask each other to pray!

Marigold joins her big sisters and brothers:

Elisabeth Grace
James Julian
Fiona Catherine
John Peter

I love them all together — amazing names, all!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Marigold!!

Grace had professional photos taken of her children after Marigold’s birth by Alzbeta Volk — I know you’ll want to check out her web site after seeing these beautiful photos! The print of the M and the T with Our Lady of Fatima surrounded by marigolds and St. Thérèse surrounded by roses was done by Studio Senn and given as a gift for Grace and Marigold by a friend (I did a giveaway of one of the amazing Studio Senn prints last spring).

Marigold Thérèse and her big siblings and Studio Senn print of her initials and patrons ❤

And the winner is …

sanctanomina Sancta Nomina community ,

… randomly chosen by Rafflecopter … Meghan! Hooray!!! 🎉🎉🎉 She said she’d choose a blue B for her newborn Benedict — how wonderful!! (Meghan — I’ll email you!)

Thank you to all of you who entered the raffle — you showed Kortnee some well deserved love!! For the rest of you — be sure to take advantage of the special discount code Kortnee’s offering to Sancta Nomina readers: use SANCTANOMINA15 until June 1 for 15% off anything in the shop! And don’t forget to check out Kortnee’s Etsy shop and web site and follow her on Instagram if you haven’t already!

Finally, a huge thank you to Kortnee for introducing herself and being so generous with her talents! I’m adding her to my Gift ideas & marketplace page as well, so you know where to find her any time you need an amazing gift for a little one (or big one?) in your life. 🙌

Happy Thursday! I’m working on a consultation post — stay tuned! I’ll have it up soon — it’s a good one!

Happy Mother’s Day! (I’ve got goodies for you!)

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Happy Mother’s Day!! 💐💐💐 I say this to all of you, even if you’re not moms, because everyone gets in on the celebration on Mother’s Day, don’t they?! At Mass this morning I saw so many older moms that I see every week by themselves or with their husbands, and maybe sometimes one of their children, but today it seemed like they had all their grown-up kids with them (many that I’ve seen grow up) — and I was so happy for them, what a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day. ❤

As I did last year, I really wanted to do something special for you all in honor of Our Lady during her month of May, and also in conjunction with Mother’s Day. I told you all recently about the priest who gave a mission at our church during Lent, and his story regarding the power of St. Gerard’s intercession for couples who are hoping to conceive. Then just recently, someone I know told me she’d encouraged her daughter-in-law (who’s not Catholic!) to ask St. Gerard for his intercession, and they just found out they’re having twins! So I really had it on my heart to do a novena to St. Gerard, specifically for all of you who are hoping for babies. Today was the last day of the novena, and I already said today’s prayers for it, so you’re all covered! I hope you’ll let me know when your St. Gerard babies are on the way! 😊 (I’ll also just die if any of you find out you’re having twins!👯)

Also, yesterday I attended a special celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima and the canonization of our new St. Francisco and St. Jacinta 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕 at the Auriesville Shrine (I documented it on Instagram!), and remembered all of you and your intentions during the beautiful day. I’m so grateful for you all! 🌹❤🌹❤

Finally, I wanted to give you something tangible and God provided me the perfect thing! Kortnee is a reader who has an Etsy shop called Studio Senn (she also has a non-Etsy web site here, and she’s also on Instagram, where she sometimes posts promo codes), which is “a watercolor and hand lettering small business specializing in wedding paper, watercolor maps and Catholic goods for families and children.” Regarding its origin, she told me,

“Studio Senn was born a couple years ago after working for a wedding florist/planner who asked me to do hand lettering and watercolor for some small projects she had. I started doing custom invitations and watercolor maps after that. This year I’ve decided to branch out and add more of my passions to the shop: Catholic goods for families and children, baby announcements, and hopefully soon original artwork.”

You guys! She has some ah-MAZ-ing things that I know you will all LOVE as much as I do! Like this ABC Saint Poster (she paints a little saint for each letter! So darling!):

ABC_saint_poster

She also has a boy version and a girl version. SO perfect for a nursery!

Then there’s this Narnia map (available in a bigger size too):

Narnia_map

And this St. Therese quote:

St_Therese_quote

There are so many sweet sweet things to choose from! But my very favorite is this Custom Saint, Letter, Color Square Print:

Custom_Saint_Square

Which is why I’m giving one of them away to one of you!! 🎉🎉🎉 To enter, click here to go to the Rafflecopter page for this giveaway! It starts today and ends at midnight on Wednesday, and I’ll announce the winner on Thursday — the birthday of St. John Paul the Great! 👊💕

For the rest of you, Kortnee’s offering a special discount code for Sancta Nomina readers! Use SANCTANOMINA15 until June 1 for 15% off anything in the shop! And as a special bonus — she also shared about her sons’ names! They are:

Fulton Douglas
Becket Raymond

😍😍😍

She explained,

“Our son Fulton is obviously (or at least I would guess so for your readers) named after Venerable Fulton Sheen. My husband and I have been inspired by his words for years. His middle name, Douglas, is after my father-in-law. Becket is named after Saint Thomas Becket. We thought he would be a wonderful intercessor for religious reedom in this day and age and we have always loved the work the Becket Fund does for that same cause. His middle name, Raymond, is after my dad and grandpa. It happened to be a coincidence that they are both surnames. Not necessarily a trend we plan to keep but always fun to think of what would go well with them!“

I hope you all found this post as fun to read as I had writing it!! Don’t forget to enter the raffle and check our Kortnee’s Etsy shop, web site, and Instagram, and I hope you all have a wonderful wonderful day!! 🌼🌺🌷🌸